F4F | Bill Johnson Claims Christians Have a Mandate to Perform Miracles

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. So have you heard that Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, he teaches that Christians have a mandate from Jesus to perform miracles.

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So my immediate question for you is this. How good are you at performing the miracles that Jesus has mandated that you do?

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Yeah, me either. I'm not doing so hot on myself. Mandate? Really?

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Mandate? Talk about tying up a heavy burden and putting it on people. And we're going to see from a sermon titled

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The Miracle Mandate how this is a complete twisting of scripture and a placing of a burden on people that not only can they not bear, that even

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Bill Johnson himself doesn't live up to. Just keep that in mind. So a little bit of a note here.

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In fact, let me whirl up the desktop first. There's our desktop. And you're going to note that here

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I'm going to hit the, I'm going to open up my browser. And we are going to be warping and distorting

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Bill Johnson. Why do you ask? Why do you do this? Because Bill Johnson thinks that he's above the copyright laws that exist and he's above the use of fair use.

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And so whenever people critique him, he goes after them and basically tries to take down the videos that are critical of him.

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Well, so we are distorting him to basically make it far more difficult for him to do that.

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So if you don't like the fact that we're distorting Bill Johnson, contact him and tell him to stop taking down videos that show that he's a false teacher.

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You get the idea. So let's take a look at this. So this was, at the time

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I'm recording this episode of Fighting for the Faith, this video was posted roughly a month ago. And we're going to be listening to a portion of it.

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And we're going to note the Supreme Bible teaching, Bible teaching, Supreme Bible twisting that is taking place as he's attempting to preach the

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Bible. But he's not. In fact, the techniques that he's using, it's a master class in how to twist up the scripture.

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So let's go ahead and listen in and we'll see what we can do along the way. Here we go.

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I want to talk to you today about the mandate for miracles. Mandate, mandate for miracles.

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Is it too soon to notice that his wife died of cancer and he didn't obey

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Christ's mandate for miracles when it came to curing his own wife of cancer? Just pointing that out.

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Upon our lives. It is in the bold preaching of the gospel that the hand of God is released to demonstrate his love, his power.

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Jesus did not give us power and authority so we could sit in a pew and wait for the rapture. What are you talking about?

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Not everybody has miracle performing abilities. What are you talking about?

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In fact, let's start with a biblical text, shall we? I'm going to open up maybe like 1

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Corinthians chapter 12. And Paul talking about spiritual gifts in 1

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Corinthians chapter 12. At the very end of the chapter, he asks a question, not just one, but a whole bunch.

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And so you're going to note something fascinating is happening here in the Greek. And that is, is that when these questions are asked,

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Paul asks the question, may Pontus apostoloi. So here it is in the Greek, verse 29. And the may here, which is the first word in the sentence, which is a question, means that the question has to be answered in the negative, not the positive, in the negative.

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So Paul asks the first question, may Pontus apostoloi, are all apostles? No. So no, not all our apostles.

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May Pontus prophetai, are all prophets? No, the word may is there as well, which means no, not all our prophets.

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May Pontus didaskaloi, are all teachers? No. May Pontus deudemes, do all work miracles?

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No, no, all do not work miracles.

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May Pontus charismata exsusen iamaton, do all possess gifts of healing?

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No, no, they don't. So already we've got a problem.

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And that is, is that his teaching that Christians have a mandate on them from Christ, that they must perform miracles.

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This is contradicted by a clear passage of scripture. And you'll note, let's back up into the context a little bit here.

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And you know, Paul makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts for the purpose of filling out the functions within the body of Christ.

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Okay, so he says this in verse four, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit.

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There are varieties of service, but the same Lord. There are varieties of activities, but it is the same

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God who empowers them all and everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

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For to one is given through the spirit, the utterance of wisdom, to another, the utterance of knowledge, to, let's see, the utterance of knowledge according to that same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one spirit.

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So you'll note that what I pointed out at the end of the chapter is absolutely consistent with what's being said at the beginning of the chapter.

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God gives varieties of gifts. To another, the working of miracles. Note, it doesn't say to all the working of miracles, it just says to another.

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Some receive that gift and others do not. So another prophecy, another ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues, all of these are empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually, watch this, as God the

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Holy Spirit wills. Hmm, so we got a problem here.

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Already the primary premise of Bill Johnson's sermon, that we have a mandate of miracles upon us, is contradicted by a clear passage of scripture that says, listen, in the body of Christ, not all have such gifts, right?

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So for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ.

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For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of the one spirit.

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For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand,

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I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, well, because I'm not an eye,

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I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?

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If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? As it is, God has arranged the members of the body, each one of them as he chose.

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If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

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So you'll note that this is then consistent. Are all apostles? No. May Pontius Apostoloi?

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No, not all are apostles. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Do all possess, do all work miracles?

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No. Do all possess gifts of healing? No. You get the idea here.

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Oh, and by the way, as a little bit of a bonus, do all speak in tongues? No. So any charismatic will tell you, well, everybody who's a

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Christian can have the gift of tongues. This text says otherwise. Yeah.

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So you'll note that God, the Holy Spirit gives gifts for the purpose of edifying the body. And that means we're going to need all the different members that make up a body.

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You get the idea. So we got a problem here.

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And that is that Bill Johnson, right out of the chute in our sermon here, is assuming, you all have a mandate from Jesus and you need to, what?

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You need to perform miracles. Okay, here we go. Yeah. Okay. Let's, let me back this up just a little bit.

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Listen again to what he said. I want to talk to you today about the mandate for miracles that is upon our lives.

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It is in the bold preaching of the gospel that the hand of God is released to demonstrate his love, his power. Jesus did not give us power and authority so we could sit in a pew and wait for the rapture.

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He gave us power and authority to deal with the works of the devil. Gave us power and authority to silence that illegal voice that torments people with lies and deceptions.

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And he's given us the great privilege to walk in the anointing that Jesus himself walked in. Jesus is the

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Messiah? The anointed one? Hmm. It's a miracle mandate.

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Miracle mandate again. And yet, Paul says not all have the gift of miracles.

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Hmm. In verse 15, I forget the verse reference, I think it's like 17, 18, 19, somewhere there. At any rate,

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Paul makes a statement. He says he's going to certain cities and he said, in mighty signs and wonders, he has fully preached the gospel.

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In mighty signs and wonders, fully preached the gospel. How many of you want to fully share the good news of the kingdom? How much do you want to bet he's twisting that text?

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I wouldn't take the bet against me, by the way, on that one. So let's go to Romans chapter 15. All right.

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Romans chapter 15. He says verses 16, 17, 18, 19, somewhere in there, right?

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So let's see here. Let's just back up.

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We'll apply the three rules for sound biblical exegesis, which are context, context, and context. So Paul writes,

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I'll start at verse 14, says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

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But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of a reminder because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the

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Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable and sanctified by the

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Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then I have reason to be proud of my work for God, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what

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Christ has accomplished through me. So note here,

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Paul's emphasis is that Christ did these things through him.

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So what Christ accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the

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Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around Lyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.

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And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.

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So you're going to note here, Paul didn't say that he fully preached the gospel because God or Christ performed miracles through him.

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That's not what the text says at all. And we need to be reminded of something, and let me show you this here.

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All right, I'm going to, we're going to do a little more biblical study here. I'm going to say, I'm going to look for the signs and I'm going to add in another word and apostle.

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All right, let's see here. I want to search not the gospels for this. I'm going to search for the epistles. That's in second

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Corinthians. And I want you to consider what Paul says regarding this. Okay, the apostle Paul is an actual apostle of Jesus Christ.

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And as such, he was given authority by Christ to operate in the signs of an apostle.

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He even says so. Paul says to the church at Corinth in second Corinthians 12, I've been a fool.

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You've forced me to it. For I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these so -called super apostles, even though I am nothing.

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The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works for in what, for in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you.

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Forgive me for this wrong. So Paul here is referencing something known as the signs of the apostles.

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And he was able to operate in them because he was an apostle. Now, let me give you another biblical text here to kind of demonstrate this.

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I'm going to look for the word Dorcas. Okay, which by the way, do not name your daughter this.

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Okay, I know some of you people out there want to name your children with biblical names. This is not a name you want to name your daughter with.

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I went to junior high school with a girl with this name and she was teased horribly for having this name, just to say, all right, but here's

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Acts chapter nine. And in Acts chapter nine, we have Christians. We have garden variety

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Christians like you and like me. And we also have the apostle

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Peter who is capable like the apostle Paul of operating in the signs of an apostle, you know, the miraculous signs that basically demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a true apostle of Jesus Christ.

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So consider then this mandate for miracles in light of this text and watch how this plays out.

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So it says in Acts chapter nine, verse 36, there was in Joppa, a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means

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Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. And in those days she became ill and she died.

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And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lida was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay.

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So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room.

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All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.

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But Peter put them all outside, knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said,

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Tabitha arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up.

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And he gave her his hand and raised her up. And then calling the saints and the widows, he presented her alive.

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And it became known throughout all Joppa and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one

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Simon, a tanner. Now note here, this text, this is a very great text because we have garden variety

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Christians like you and like me. Did they have the authority to raise

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Tabitha from the dead? No, Peter did.

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He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. So you'll note, they call for Peter. Why? Because Peter can operate in the signs of an apostle.

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And what did Peter do? He came. And with the power and authority given to him, he was able through Christ.

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Christ did it through him to have Tabitha be raised from the dead. And note, he didn't chastise the other widows and sit there and go, why didn't you do this?

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Why'd you call me all the way from Lyda to come over here to Joppa when you have a mandate for miracles given to you by Jesus?

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You need to learn how to stretch out your faith and do stuff and thingies, right? Nothing like that is there.

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And so you're going to note, this text presupposes in the narrative itself that garden variety

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Christians like you and I don't normatively operate in miracles. If it were different,

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Peter would have scolded them. Or they wouldn't have even called Peter. They would have just raised Tabitha from the dead themselves.

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Mandate for miracles? Yeah, no. Let's come back to Bill Johnson. Requires miracles to be fully preached.

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All right, let me back this up. Fully preach the gospel. In mighty sons and wonders, fully preach the gospel.

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How many want the full? Yep, you twisted that text from Romans 15. Share the good news of the kingdom. It requires miracles to be fully preached.

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And it's the bold decrees you look. So the gospel requires miracles in order to be fully preached.

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No, it doesn't. Not at all. In fact, there's another passage. Another one.

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All right, check this one out. I think it's going to be Acts 14. Acts 14.

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Here we go. All right, yeah. Lystra. Let's see. All right.

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No, no, I want to back up. One more chapter. Hang on a second here. Here we go. Paul and Barnabas at Antioch and Pisidia.

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In order... Okay, let's add a little context to what Bill Johnson is saying. Listen to what he says here.

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At any rate, Paul makes this statement. He says he's going to these certain cities. And he said, in mighty signs and wonders, he has fully preached the gospel.

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In mighty sons and wonders, fully preach the gospel. You already twisted that text. We approved it. How many want the fully? Share the good news of the kingdom.

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It requires miracles to be fully preached. So miracles are required in order to fully preach the gospel, says

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Bill Johnson. And I call bovine scatology on that. All right, so here's the text,

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Acts 13. I'm going to ask you one simple question at the beginning, and we'll review the question at the end.

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And here's the question. How many miracles were performed at Antioch in Pisidia?

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That's the question, all right? Because if it's required that miracles take place in order for the gospel to be fully preached, as Bill Johnson says, then we should expect all kinds of signs and wonders here in Antioch, Pisidia, shouldn't we?

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Let's take a look. So it says, now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia, and John left and returned to Jerusalem.

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But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch and Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day, they went to the synagogue and they sat down.

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After the reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying, brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.

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So Paul stood up and motioning with his hand, he said, men of Israel and you who fear God.

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Listen, the God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt.

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And with uplifted arm, he led them out of it. And for about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness.

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And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

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All of this took about 450 years. And after that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

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And then they asked for a king. God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.

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And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said, I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all of my will.

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Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised.

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Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, what do you suppose that I am?

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I am not he. No, but behold, after me, one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.

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Brothers and sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

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For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which that are read every

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Sabbath, they fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked

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Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

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But God raised him from the dead. For many days, he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

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And we bring you good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising

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Jesus. Also, it is written on the second Psalm, you are my son today, I begotten you.

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And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy and sure blessing of David.

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Therefore, he says also in another Psalm, you will not let your holy one see corruption. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, he fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.

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But he whom God raised up did not see corruption. So let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

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Now you're going to note, the only miracle that's really being pointed to here is not one performed by the apostle

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Paul. It's one that Jesus performed, his bodily resurrection from the dead.

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So let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

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So beware therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish.

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For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.

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And as they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many

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Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

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How many miracles were performed there in Antioch, Pisidia? Zero.

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Well, did Paul fail to preach the gospel fully because he didn't perform any signs and wonders and miracles?

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I mean, he was disobeying Jesus and the mandate for miracles because he didn't perform any there.

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No, he didn't, did he? Because Paul says in Romans 1, the gospel is the power of God into salvation.

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The gospel, the preaching of the good news of Christ, bleeding and dying for the forgiveness of our sins.

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That is the power of God into salvation, not signs and wonders. So, yeah, zero miracles performed there.

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Apparently, Paul didn't get the message. He's required by mandate from Jesus to perform miracles.

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He performed zero, and yet people believed. And it's the bold decree, as you look through scripture over and over again, is that bold confession of faith, that bold declaration, that bold preaching.

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Preaching is not just from the pulpit. It's just one -on -one. It's over coffee, but it's the confidence in Christ where we share the good news of the gospel with the kingdom.

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And that just draws, literally, helps to manifest the hand of God in given situations. But I want to kind of come through the back door on the subject because what was in my heart this morning was to bring to you two portions of scripture that are actually used against those who pray for the sick.

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Those who pursue... By the way, real quick here. Bill Johnson has a funny thing that he does, and he creates a straw man, basically claiming that there are a bunch of pastors out there that are opposed to people praying for the sick.

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This is just malarkey. This is nonsense. I mean, I don't have the gift of performing miracles, but you know what

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I am able to do? Pray. And at Kangsvinger Lutheran Church in Oslo, Minnesota, don't you know, when we have somebody who's sick, you know what

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I do for them? I pray for them. You know what I pray for them? That God would heal them. And I got to tell you, in the years

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I've been a pastor, I've seen some pretty amazing answers to prayer, miraculously so. So I don't know any pastors that say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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We don't pray for the sick. Show me that pastor. I'd like to have a conversation with that guy because I've never met one of those.

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What is he talking about? So apparently there are passages used,

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Bill Johnson says, against those who pray for the sick. Every Christian that I know prays for the sick.

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What are you talking about? So this is kind of the straw man he sets up. Well, we're out there. We're following Jesus's miracle mandate.

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And then there's a whole bunch of churches out there. They're opposed to you even praying for the sick. What? That's just nonsense.

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Straw man. Through the demonstration of power. There are a couple portions of scriptures that are frequently sent to individuals like myself that are to discourage me from praying for the sick or to expose the heresy.

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I don't know anybody who would discourage anybody from praying for the sick. If somebody's sick, pray.

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Ask God to please heal them. Do whatever's involved. And it's not in defense of that because they're not in the room.

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It's just so that you and I would be deeply entrenched in the assignment that God's given us.

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Deeply entrenched in the mandate for miracles. No, we as Christians don't have that assignment, sir.

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I think of what God's called me to do, but I don't have the luxury of changing the assignment. I don't have the luxury of changing what he said to do.

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Okay, I'm going to back this up so you can hear what he said. You know, what's his excuse for the fact that his wife died, his son still deaf in one ear, and Olive is still moldering in the grave?

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What's his excuse for that? Listen to what he said. Entrenched in the assignment that God's given us. I may stink at what

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God's called me to do, but I don't have the luxury of changing the assignment. So he stinks at performing miracles.

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Yeah, he does. Because, you know, he wears glasses. Ahem. Don't tell me you can operate in signs and wonders when you wear glasses.

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The reason why you're wearing glasses is because your eyeballs need, you know, your eyeballs aren't working right.

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Just continue on here. I don't have the luxury of changing what he said to do just because I don't do it well. And what's done often is people will retreat to what they do well and forsake what he's called us to do.

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We don't have that luxury. Our gifts, our skills are valuable. They're important. They are part of our offering to the Lord.

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But we cannot lose track of the very fact that God has called us to invade the impossible and demonstrate his love, demonstrate his purity, demonstrate his power.

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Where does it say that God has called us to invade the impossible? I'm not familiar with that text. And so that's what we're going to look at today.

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So the first portion of scripture we'll look at is in Matthew chapter 7. In fact, both portions of scripture we're going to look at today are in Matthew.

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And this is the supreme twisting of scripture coming up here. Brace yourself. This is terrible. The gospel of Matthew.

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So Matthew chapter 7, Matthew 7 verse 21.

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Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven.

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Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?

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And I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

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I'd like to suggest that there are actually two parts to the lesson Jesus is trying to instruct, describe.

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The first is concerning the will of God. He said, just because if you call me

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Lord, it has to be demonstrated by your obedience. Interestingly, Jesus was...

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All right, let's take a look at the text. Because this is one of those passages that I think legitimately is aimed at folks like Bill Johnson and those in the new apostolic reformation.

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All right, so the text then has to do with false prophets. So we have to look at its fuller context.

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So Jesus saying in the Sermon on the Mount, beware of false prophets who come to in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

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You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbrushes or figs from thistles?

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So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

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Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, thus you will not recognize them by their fruits.

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Okay, so what is the fruit? Doctrine and life. Okay, if they're giving false prophecies, they're a bad tree.

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A good tree doesn't give false prophecies. If they are twisting up God's word and refusing to teach sound doctrine, that's bad fruit.

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You're dealing with a bad tree. If they are a con man who's greedy and greedy and greedy and greedy and keep pushing you for money, money, money, money, money, money, money, that's bad fruit, right?

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Yeah, exactly. You kind of get the idea. So in this then warning about false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, note that false prophets don't come to you dressed up as priestesses of ISIS.

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They come to you dressed up in sheep's clothing, right? So then Jesus says, not everyone who says to me,

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Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Now, the question is, what is the will of the father?

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That you believe in the son. The will of the father is that you obey the son. And in what commands?

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Well, there's a lot of them given in the New Testament, okay? So the will of the father is that you obey the son.

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And so if you want to see what Christ has commanded, you get the idea here. But this is in the context of false prophets.

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So on that day, the day of judgment, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

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And I think of all the people that we feature on Prophecy Bingo. There they are in the day of judgment. They're gonna go,

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Lord, I opened up a YouTube channel and I told everybody there was gonna be a release of a season of suddenlies and the glory was going to overtake them and stuff like that.

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And as soon as they had their breakthrough and Jesus is gonna say to them, I never knew you.

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This is in the context of false prophets, okay?

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Beware of false prophets. And then he's talking about what's going to happen to the false prophets.

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Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father. It is not

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God's will that you blaspheme God's name and take it in vain with your false prophecies and stuff like this.

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On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name?

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I think of Isaiah Salad Bar and others who are into deliverance ministries.

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You think of the demon slayers and people like that, right? That's who Jesus is describing here and they are under the big category of false prophets.

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These are the people who come to us in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves. Do we not prophesy in your name?

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Cast out demons in your name? Do mighty works in your name? And Jesus will say, declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

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This passage is flat out a condemnation, not of people who don't perform miracles, but of false prophets who are performing false signs and false wonders and giving false prophecies.

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And Christ is saying that of these people that they are workers of lawlessness. But Bill Johnson has a funny thing that he does with this passage that condemns him and Chris Vallotton and others in his movement.

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Okay, let's back this up. Listen again. He said, just because if you call me

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Lord, it has to be demonstrated by your obedience. Interestingly, Jesus was in a similar crowd and his disciples came to him and said, your mom's outside waiting for you and your brothers and your sisters, your family's out there waiting for you.

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And Jesus made this statement that probably sounded rude at the time, but he said, anyone who obeys me, anyone who does the will of God, those are my brothers, my sisters, my mother.

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What is he saying? He's saying you can't find your identity apart from obedience. All right, so you gotta obey

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Jesus. So watch what he does with this here. So rather than dealing with the fact that this passage is about false prophets and false teachers performing false signs and false wonders, which is what

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Bethel traffic's in, he's now zeroed in on the concept of obedience and now he's going to shift the subject now, okay?

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And talk about what's the important thing to do as far as obeying Christ. Those who do the will of God, those who yield to the assignment, the commission that God has given, that's where we, it's like identity in Christ, it's like two -part epoxy, obedience seals what was revealed in scripture.

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Yes, Bill, that was an extremely good point. Two -part epoxy, you got it. All right, we'll just leave it there. I was expecting a little bigger smile, at least.

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That was one of those loud smiles. That's what I got, yeah. I'm teasing you because I'm in a teasing mood.

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It was sunny yesterday. World of talk. And last time - They didn't laugh hard enough, so he had to point that out.

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You know, he's basically putting his expectations on his audience there. I saw it sunny today.

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I am so happy. You know what I did yesterday? Nothing. Nothing. I walked around my property just enjoying the sun.

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We got reacquainted. I hadn't seen him for a while. Oh my. Two parts to this.

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He said, just because you call me Lord, if you don't do the will of God, you can't call me

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Lord. You can't call me Lord and not obey. So you can't call me Lord and not obey. So okay, all right.

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What am I supposed to be obeying here, sir? So what is the will of God?

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Well, the broadest definition is found in - Here we go. So what's the will of God? You got to obey Jesus. Watch where he goes.

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Which is what we usually call the Lord's prayer, which is your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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So it's the reality of that world changing, affecting the reality of this world. Every other commission

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Jesus gave, every other assignment he gave was actually an expression of that overall commission. The overall commission, heaven to earth.

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It became practical when he said, I'm going to send you out two by two, you're going to go home, heal the sick that are there, find the peaceful people, minister to them, make sure deliverance comes, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, raise the dead.

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So he just pulled what we call a fast one. Let me explain. So we'll pull up Matthew chapter six.

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And in Matthew chapter six, we have Jesus giving us the Lord's prayer. When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases or vain repetitions is how the

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King James says, as Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you what?

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Ask him. Okay. So pray then like this, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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These are petitions. We're asking God in our prayers to, that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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How has God's will done then here on earth? When sinners hear the gospel and by the power of the

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Holy Spirit are converted to Christianity and bear fruit in sound doctrine and in life in obeying

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Christ, that's how God's will is done. So your will, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Bill Johnson sees this then and he abuses this text as, well, this is our mandate to take heaven and bring it down to earth.

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It's not a mandate. It's a petition, sir. God knows what you need before you ask him.

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So when you pray, and let's take a look at what the Greek word for prayer is.

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And boy, is that small text. Okay. Prasukamai, this is the verb version of it, is to petition a deity, to pray, to ask, okay?

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So Christ says, when you pray, you're asking, you're petitioning God, please let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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These are petitions. Please give us this day, our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

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You kind of get the idea here. So that being the case here, when

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Christ gives us the Lord's prayer, this isn't written in mandate form. This is written in petition form.

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We're asking God that he would do this. He is not here commanding us to bring

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God's kingdom to earth. We are praying that God himself would bring his kingdom to earth and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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So Bill Johnson has this 180 degrees backwards because he sees in those words, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven as a command to us that we have to obey.

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But the context is in a petition that Christ told us to pray and to ask

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God for. Big difference altogether. Back this up, here we go. The reality of this world.

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Every other commission Jesus gave, every other assignment he gave was actually an expression of that overall commission.

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The overall commission, heaven to earth. It became practical when he said, I'm going to send you out two by two. You're going to a home.

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Heal the sick that are there. Find them. Total twisting of the Lord's prayer. The Lord's prayer is not a command.

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It's a petition. The peace filled people. Minister to them. Make sure deliverance comes. Cast out demons. Cleanse lepers.

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Raise the dead. That's very specific. So what is the will of God? If they're sick, heal them. All right, that's the will of God.

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So when he says, So if somebody's sick, it's your job to heal them. And if you're not doing that, well, you're not obeying

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Jesus. He wears glasses.

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You get the point here? His eyes are sick. So are mine, by the way. I can't see a thing when

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I take these things off. Oh my goodness. This is just, and his wife died of cancer.

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His son is still deaf in one ear. You get the idea. This is just putting on a thick burden on people that they're not, this is a total twisting of scripture.

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And no Christians don't have a mandate to perform miracles. We see that in the Apostle Paul's writing in 1

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Corinthians 12. Those who perform miracles, not everybody has that gift. And so we're not under that mandate.

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The Apostle Peter raised Tabitha from the dead rather than the widows who worked with her. And he didn't scold them for not performing miracles, right?

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So what Bill Johnson is doing here is duplicitous. And this belief, if you buy into this, then you are under pressure to perform miracles.

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And I can't perform miracles if my life depended upon it. The only way I can perform a miracle is if God chose to work through me to do such a thing and he hasn't promised to do so.

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So I mean, again, so when you live in a culture like this, you know, this is the reason why you have all the wingnut wackerdoodle weird stuff going on there, like glory clouds and gold dust and all the weird things, you know, in the fire tunnels and the bizarre things happening there because they think that this is somehow proof that they're obeying

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Jesus, but they're not. This is a complete twisting of God's word and the laying on of a burden on people that no one's capable of fulfilling.

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...and you disobey me when I give you a commission, pray for the sick. I don't know anybody who doesn't who's a

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Christian, by the way. I'm not saying that's the only way we demonstrate the will of God, but don't ignore it because it's part of the program.

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I don't know anybody who doesn't pray for the sick. What are you talking about, sir? Don't say he's my Lord and yet you don't pray for the sick.

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You don't confront somebody who's tormented with dreams. Well, I don't know how to deal with demons. Tell them to leave. Start there. Start there.

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Just pretend. Again, I don't know anybody if they're dealing with a real demonic would just sit there and twiddle their thumbs and say, well, we can't do anything.

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I don't know what to do. So, you know, aside from the complete nonsensical straw man that he sets up about his opponents, he's completely twisted

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God's word and laid a super heavy burden on people that nobody can fulfill.

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And by the way, no Christians, no Christians in general are not under a mandate from Christ to perform miracles.

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That's just bogus. False doctrine and, you know, part and parcel of the false teaching that you get from Bill Johnson.

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